This citizen journalism image taken on Monday, June 18, 2012 and provided by the Rebels Battalion of Baba Amro, purports to show Syrian rebels holding their weapons as they prepare to fight against Syrian troops, in Homs province. Syrian rebels clashed with soldiers for hours overnight in a northwestern province and inflicted heavy casualties on government forces, activists said Wednesday. The fighting came after the head the of the country's U.N. observers said his forces had come under attack and cast doubt on the future of the mission. (AP Photo/The Rebels Battalion of Baba Amro) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS HANDOUT PHOTO less

This citizen journalism image taken on Monday, June 18, 2012 and provided by the Rebels Battalion of Baba Amro, purports to show Syrian rebels holding their weapons as they prepare to fight against Syrian ... more

Photo: Anonymous, Associated Press

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This citizen journalism image taken on Monday, June 18, 2012 and provided by the Rebels Battalion of Baba Amro, purports to show Syrian rebels holding their weapons as they prepare to fight against Syrian troops, in Homs province. Syrian rebels clashed with soldiers for hours overnight in a northwestern province and inflicted heavy casualties on government forces, activists said Wednesday. The fighting came after the head the of the country's U.N. observers said his forces had come under attack and cast doubt on the future of the mission. (AP Photo/The Rebels Battalion of Baba Amro) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS HANDOUT PHOTO less

This citizen journalism image taken on Monday, June 18, 2012 and provided by the Rebels Battalion of Baba Amro, purports to show Syrian rebels holding their weapons as they prepare to fight against Syrian ... more

Photo: Anonymous, Associated Press

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Syrian rebels emboldened by heavy losses

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Khan Sheikhoun, Syria --

On a Sunday late last month, Syrian army forces attacked this town. By early afternoon, two children had been killed by a mortar shell, and doctors and nurses were struggling to save an elderly woman shot in the chest with a Kalashnikov. An attack helicopter circled overhead. The local rebel commander phoned his compatriots in the nearby town of Madaya for help.

When the reinforcements arrived, they focused on the chopper. One group took off with a truck-mounted Dushka heavy machine gun, racing through the streets as the helicopter swooped above. Others fired at it with Dragunov sniper rifles and Kalashnikovs.

One of the fighters grinned when asked how he hoped to shoot down an armored attack helicopter circling above at 2,000 feet using only a rifle. "Perhaps it is possible, if it is the will of Allah," he said.

The thousands of rebel fighters who battle daily with the superior forces of the Syrian military face long odds. Many have no military training. There's little strategic planning. Even as international efforts to support the rebel cause begin to kick in with a flow of smuggled rifles, heavy weapons remain scarce.

But a rare look inside rebel operations in Syria reveals a force that has been undeterred by the crushing tactics of President Bashar Assad's army. Heavy losses in the rebel ranks and among civilians have only emboldened the fighters in their quest to topple Assad, whose government has killed thousands of Syrians while trying to suppress what began last year as a peaceful uprising but is rapidly turning into a civil war.

"I never wanted to fight. Our revolution started in peace," said Shahm, who commands the rebel unit in Madaya. "We asked Bashar only for our freedom. But he answered us with bullets. The first time a man hits you, maybe you do not respond. Maybe not the second time. But the third time ..."

His voice trailed off. "I am human. I have emotions. And so now, I fight."

At first glance, Shahm, who is in his mid-20s, does not make much of an impression as a fighter. He speaks beautiful English, decorated with poetic Arabic flourishes and delivered with the faintest hint of a Russian accent.

Shahm, who did not want his last name published, is the leader of a band of about 50 rebels who are with the Free Syrian Army. Madaya is under the complete control of the rebel force. The fighters carry weapons openly, and the civilians regard them as heroes.

Although Shahm has no formal military training, he said his father - who commands a rebel unit of his own and who had briefly served in Assad's army many years ago - taught him the basics of military leadership. They regularly confer via Skype, Shahm said.

Shahm said he is plotting a spectacular attack. The plan involves an artillery piece, but nobody knows how to use it.

Meanwhile, Shahm's fighters had taken a suspected government spy as prisoner. His swollen right eye attested to the beating he had endured.

Later that night, Shahm stayed up sitting by the phone. He finally received long-awaited word that a weapons shipment had arrived. At the urging of one of his men, he relented and lay down to sleep for a few hours.

His last words of the night were a protest. "The more you sleep, the less you fight."